Organic Berry Production
June 14, 2024 10 am – 2 pm.  Blue Fruit Farm, Winona MN

Join the Organic Fruit Growers Association, the UW-Madison Emerging Crops Program, and hosts Ben and Natalie McAvoy at Blue Fruit Farm for a look at one of the Upper Midwest’s oldest organic fruit farms.  We will tour 5 acres of certified organic fruit, including aronia berries, black currants, blueberries, elderberries, honeyberries, and plums.  Blue Fruit Farm has grown out of long history and experience: the farm was founded by Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford in 2008; Ben and Natalie started working with Jim and Joyce in 2021, and they became proud farm owners in 2023. They market their fruit and value-added products on-farm (both U-pick and pre-picked) as well as to local restaurants.  The tour will focus on organic production & marketing of their diverse mix of fruit crops and will also showcase the farm’s rainwater collection and solar-powered irrigation; on-farm composting; fertigation; deer, racoon, & bird exclusion measures; and pollinator habitat.  Plus, eat some honeyberries!  The UW-Madison Emerging Crops Program and SeedLinked, a trial management platform, will host a honeyberry tasting at this field day as part of a project to crowdsource performance data through on-farm, collaborative trials.

Registration, including catered lunch, is free.  Registration deadline is June 6th.  Read more and register here.

Organic High Tunnel Peach and Outdoor Apple Production
Sunday July 14, 2024 10 am.  Down Home Farm, Readstown, WI

Join the Organic Fruit Growers Association and hosts Jesse Downs and Liz Voz at Down Home Farm. See Jesse and Liz’s innovative production of peaches in two high tunnels which protect the trees from severe Upper Midwest weather, and then tour their 1.5 acre outdoor orchard of high density apples grown on dwarf rootstocks. Jesse and Liz have twelve years of experience growing high tunnel peaches. They market their fruits locally at farmers markets and to restaurants and food processors.

Pre-registration is required!!  Read more and register.

Organic Apple Production at Dream Apple Farm, Grafton, WI. 
Tuesday, August 6, 2024. 

More information and registration details coming soon.

This article was posted in Apples, Berries, Other News and Resources and tagged Events, OFGA, Organic Apple Production, Organic Berry Production, Organic Fruit Growers Association, Organic High Tunnel Peach and Outdoor Apple Production, Summer Field Days.